Editing Mathieu Molé

{{Short description|French statesman}}
{{about|the 17th-century French statesman|the 19th-century French statesman|Louis-Mathieu Molé}}
{{One source|date=February 2012}}
[[File:Vincent Molé et les factieux.jpg|thumbnail|300px| ''Molé et les factieux'',  Mathieu Molé (1584-1656), French statesman, and  rebels, by [[François-André Vincent]] ]]
'''Mathieu Molé''' (1584 – 3 January 1656) was a French statesman.

==Biography==
The son of Edouard Molé (d. 1614), who was for a time ''procureur-général'', he was educated at the [[University of Orléans]].  Admitted conseiller in 1606, he was ''président aux requêtes'' in 1610, ''procureur-général'' in succession to [[Nicolas de Bellièvre]] in 1614, and took part in the assembly of the Notables summoned at [[Rouen]] in 1617. He fought in vain against the setting up of special tribunals, or commissions, to try prisoners charged with political offences, and for his persistence in the case of the brothers Louis and [[Michel de Marillac]] he was suspended in 1631, and ordered to appear at [[Fontainebleau]] in his own defence.

Hitherto Molé's relations with [[Cardinal Richelieu]] had been fairly good, but his inclination to the doctrines of [[Port Royal]] increased the differences between them.  It was not until after Richelieu's death that he was able to secure the release of his friend, the [[abbé de St Cyran]]. In 1641 he was appointed first president of the [[parlement]], with the preliminary condition that he should not permit the general assembly of the chambers except by express order of the king. After Richelieu's death the pretensions of the parlement increased; the hereditary magistrature arrogated to itself the functions of the [[French States-General|states-general]], and in 1648 the parlement with the other sovereign courts (the ''[[cour des aides]]'', the ''grand conseil'', and the ''[[cour des comptes]]'') met in one assembly and proposed for the royal sanction twenty-seven articles, which amounted in substance to a new constitution.

In the long conflict between [[Anne of Austria]] and the parlement, Molé, without yielding the rights of the ''parlement'', played a conciliatory part. In the popular tumult known as the day of the barricades (26 August 1648) he sought out Mazarin and the queen to demand the release of [[Pierre Broussel]] and his colleagues, whose seizure had been the original cause of the outbreak. Next day the parlement marched in procession to repeat Molé's demand. On their way back they were stopped by the crowd. Molé was threatened with death unless he brought back Broussel or Mazarin as a hostage.  Many magistrates fled; the remnant, headed by the intrepid Molé, returned to the Palais Royal, where Anne of Austria was induced to release the prisoners.

Molé's moderating counsels failed to prevent the outbreak of the first [[Fronde]], but he negotiated the [[peace of Rueil]] in 1651, and averted a conflict between the partisans of [[Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé|Condé]] and of the [[Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz|Cardinal de Retz]] within the precincts of the [[Palais de Justice, Paris|Palais de Justice]]. He refused honours and rewards for himself or his family, but became [[keeper of the seals]], in which capacity he was compelled to follow the court, and he therefore retired from the presidency of the parlement.

The ''Mémoires'' of Molé were edited for the [[Société de l'histoire de France]] (4 vols., 1855) by [[Aimé Champollion-Figeac]], and his life was written by [[Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de Barante|Baron AGP de Barante]] in ''Le Parlement et la Fronde'' (1859). See also the memoirs of [[Omer Talon (advocate)|Omer Talon]] and of [[Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz|De Retz]].

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Molé, Mathieu|volume=18|page=653}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mole, Mathieu}}
[[Category:1584 births]]
[[Category:1656 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century French politicians]]
[[Category:French memoirists]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French memoirists]]